Christmas Day has come and gone…but I’m a firm believer in the Twelve Days of Christmas. Practically, that means our tree will stay up, the Christmas songs will keep playing, and I’ll still be wearing Christmas t-shirts until January 6th. Even if you don’t observe all Twelve Days of Christmas, I know you’re still thinking about gifts, because you’ve got gift cards to spend!

I want to help you spend those gift cards. Here’s how. I’m going to give you the top seven gamer gifts that I received this year. Maybe it’ll give you some ideas for your own gift card spending:

Surely a GM like yourself wouldn’t be tempted to do such a thing! Despite our hardy stock and distinguished retinue around here, even the most skilled GMs will be tempted to railroad when GMing online. But, why would the temptation be greater online, you ask? I have been tempted and even succumbed to railroading when GMing online, because of these three factors: Continue reading →

This post will likely be the first of a few post-mortem reflections on T1: The Village of Hommlet, as my local gaming group just completed our tenth and final session in this classic Gygax module.

As this is my first AD&D adventure, I’m struck by a number of things:

I love AD&D. Yes, it’s clunky fairly often. Yes, we have to flip through the books to find rules fairly consistently. And, yes, more modern systems tend to make a little more sense. But you simply can’t say that AD&D is not fun, challenging, and exciting.

AD&D really is advanced. For less seasoned gamers, who had not already played RPGs, I could see this game being the death knell for their roleplaying. There’s a bit of a learning curve here.

The nostalgia is real. You really do get a taste of a different era and a different kind of gaming when you go back and play AD&D.But my fourth observation is where I’d like to dwell in this post:

To overcome this module, you really have to beat Gary Gygax. You’re not simply solving a puzzle or overcoming a challenge. You have to figure out Gygax’s gameplan, metagame a bit, and beat him!

The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

And to think, I would’ve known this already if I’d thought back to that modern classic gaming film, The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising. Haven’t seen it? Read on…

As I have previously stated, there are many pros to online GMing. But as some of you have pointed out, there are limitations as well. I don’t call them “cons” for two reasons: (1) limitations can be overcome with some compensation, while (2) true cons are inherent and unavoidable. In today’s article, I want to discuss the limitations placed upon communication when GMing online.

You know what ruins an RPG session? When the rulebooks get opened up. You know what ruins it the most? When the GM is the one opening the book.

While my point could be applied to “rules lawyering,” I’m actually hitting at a more present problem at my gaming table: lack of familiarity with core rules. As you know, I’ve embarked on a quest to play through many of the classic 1st Edition AD&D modules. We have one session remaining in T1: The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax. That means after a solid ten sessions, we’re still having to look at rules. Why is that?

Of course, there is the charge that 1st Edition is too complicated, contradictory, and clunky. Granted, it is complicated. There are moments of fuzziness to the point of possible contradiction. But there’s a charm and personality about the system that helps me to overlook all that. I’m enamored by the tone of the game.

Beyond the quirks of 1st Ed. AD&D, I think that there are some rules that are simply hard to remember when you first begin playing any game. They’re not on the GM screen–they’re not readily available–nobody remembers! And, as a result, you can find yourself digging through your books at the gaming table more than is necessary.

Post-it notes! That’s right. It’s simple, it’s easy, find those finicky rules quickly if they’re absolutely needed at the table. The problem is less the books and more the fifteen minutes finding the rules.

So grab a pack of post-its, whatever RPG book you’re learning right now, and let’s mark our pages together. Ready? Here are the top pages that you need to mark right now:

A month or so ago, I had a very good question from @yukitsuki7 on Twitter:

What are your experiences with [online gaming]? What are the common obstacles for online groups?

It’s a very good question, one that I intend to address on my infrequent podcast. That said, a couple years back I addressed this over on The Mad Adventurers Society, a wonderful gaming site that will soon be coming to a close. In response to her question, I thought I’d go back, revisit, and revise that series of articles on online GMing. This is my first attempt to do so.

As many of you know, I started gaming in the summer of 2011 with D&D 4e. Within months, I was running a table for D&D Encounters at my FLGS. But I found myself wanting more very quickly. I wanted a consistent, weekly game wherein I could explore new places and new stories. Stories created by myself and other players! I wanted something personal and open, not the railroaded ten-week stints that were provided for D&D Encounters.

No pants required.

But who in the world can actually pull such a thing off, especially every week? I learned very quickly who could: the online gamer. Online gaming is a potentially tricky task, but one that I found rewarding and successful. My gaming group played weekly for two and a half years (of course, we took some weeks off here and there). And in the end, we stopped playing because the story ended. So in this, the first of five articles, I aim to share why you should consider being an online roleplayer. So let us begin with the many benefits of online gaming…

It’s a grind. It’s a slog. An encounter-by-encounter, gear-grinding endeavor that makes even the most experienced player and GM tremble.

My second session of D&D as a GM was a dungeon freaking grind. Why? Well, I had a really big playmat, lots of new miniatures, and I wanted to use it all! But I learned very quickly that fight after fight after trap after fight can not only kill character, but also bore players. Is it possible to have a complex dungeon without boring the spit out of our players? I think you can. And I’m learning how to do it from Gary Gygax himself:

The holidays are upon us here in the United States, which means family visits, time off work, and…you guessed it…gaming!

But there’s something more going on beneath the surface. A secret which, left unaddressed, may cause great distress to many. Well, at least to three of us. Here’s what I’m getting at:

I’ve got a hard deadline on a super-secret MadCleric.com project that needs more of my time. That is, time that I typically spend writing these blogs. So I’m going to be pausing the new blog content for two weeks, to return on December 5th!

And let’s not even bring up the board games, like Betrayal at the House on the Hill or Star Wars: Imperial Assault!

Here’s the problem with all these cool games out there: what if I invest time, attention, and energy into a game that I end up disliking? Is it just going to sit up there on my shelf unplayed? Am I going to wish I hadn’t bothered in the first place? In the end, it seems like finding games that fit me should be easier!

But hear me clearly: it doesn’t have to be this hard to find a new game to enjoy! Here’s how you can pick a new game that will not only deepen and diversify your fun, but possibly even strengthen your local gaming community:

Reading is an absolute necessity for creators. And that applies to Game Masters and game players as much as it does to any other creative!

But if you’re like me, a grown-up gamer who is already juggling family, work, and gaming, it can be hard to find the time to read. And therein lies the problem. My creative juices flow better when I read. I feel more engaged and “in touch” with the world when I read. But when I don’t read? Well, let’s say it leaves the creative fields of my mind fallow.

Shouldn’t it be easier to develop ourselves intellectually? Shouldn’t regular reading be a simple discipline to develop? You will develop a healthy habit of reading if you follow the process that I followed. I read every day at work (that’s not a discipline…that’s work). But I also read for myself at home. And you can too! Here’s how you can develop the same practice: Continue reading →